GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Southwestern University Pirates women's swimming and diving team opened its season with a resounding 188-89 victory over Austin College on Saturday.
Southwestern nearly swept all the top finishes, placing first in every event except the 50 Yard Freestyle, missing the mark by fractions of a second and taking three of the top four spots in the event.
Freshman Jesse Stovall helped pace the Pirates, winning both of her individual events and serving as the anchor leg in the women's winning 200 Yard Medley Relay team, which finished with a time of 1:54.51; and was the first swimmer in the first-place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team, which finished with a 1:46.37 time.
Stovall finished the 200 Yard Freestyle with a time of 2:00.53, which was roughly seven seconds faster than Austin College's Chloe Hunt, who finished second; and had a 54.56 final time in the 100 Yard Freestyle to play a hand in 40 of the Pirates' points.
"The team has been training consistently well and it reflected into this meet," Head Coach Jon Duncan said. "We still have some work to do but look forward to Nov. 9-10 as we travel to OBU and Centenary."
Ashley Harmon also had a strong outing for the Pirates, finishing first in the 1,000 Yard Freestyle with a time of 11:19.50 and the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 5:31.86.
Brynn Stokes (1:04.77) finished first in the 100 Yard Backstroke, Rehgan Hartsell (1:10.19) won the 100 Yard Breaststroke and 200 Yard IM (2:04.36), Summer Newton (2:27.38) took the 200 Yard Butterfly and 200 Yard Backstroke (2:21.65), Natalie Gierat (2:39.90) won the 200 Yard Breaststroke, and Cara Chin (1:05.13) won the 100 Yard Butterfly.
In diving, Kyla Gorman was the lone competitor in the Three Meter Dive, scoring a 168.5, and won the One Meter Dive, scoring a 180.70.
Southwestern will travel to Ouachita Baptist on Friday, Nov. 9 for its next meet.